Music

Is Kanye West trolling us?

by Tyler Munro

Last night, Kanye West did what he always does. He said something stupid.

Performing in San Jose, West told the audience during one of his extended rants that while he didn’t vote, he would have voted Trump if he had.

There’s a lot to digest here, and because it’s Kanye, that comment came in the flurry of a 25 minute stream of consciousness the crowd would rather not have stood through. But lost in the storm of boos and reactionary clickbait was the rest of his quote. You know, the context.

“This is the beginning,” he told the audience, saying he was happy Trump’s campaign inspired racists to reveal themselves.

“Sometimes things that you might think are bad need to happen, in order for change to fucking happen,” he continued. “Sometimes you might have to not get your way to really understand what to do in the future, to be able to get your way.”

The audience booed, and West did what he always does: He obliged. He told the audience that he was talking about a paradigm shift, and he’s not wrong – as much as people voted for Trump out of hatred, they did it out of fear. But he also told them that Trump was a genius; that he liked the debates as entertainment. Like a red-piller straight out of a South Park subreddit, he said he liked Trump’s anti-PC speeches.

With his comments, it felt less like Tom Brady standing behind his friend and more like an excitable performer getting lost in his own metaphor. Remember the “Famous” video? This is that, ramped up a notch.

Like Trump, Kanye West is a narcissist, and like Trump, that means he’ll torch a puddle of gasoline just to see his reflection in the flames. In all of this, remember who you’re dealing with – a volatile personality, prone to seismic mood swings, on-air outbursts against George Bush and songs in which he refers to himself as a god. He’s also running for President in 2020. Hey, crazier things have happened.

It’s possible that Kanye West was trying to say that electing a probable tyrant is good for political discourse; that it can further engage the millions of Americans who didn’t vote, and the millions of 20-somethings that did. And he’s not wrong – Toronto, where we’re based, has never been more politically engaged than it was when Rob Ford was in office. Sometimes, you’re only willing to fight when you’re cornered. Until Trump won, America didn’t seem to have its back against the wall, and not just because he hasn’t built one yet. Complacency and apathy is what leads to everybody being shocked about a winner than the winner himself; the exhaustive election cycle had most of the country sleepwalking into the polls expecting another Democrat win. No matter how they took his words, Kanye West’s words woke that crowd the fuck up.

While everyone is keyed in on the fact that Kanye West said he would have voted for Donald Trump, remember this: He didn’t.